Some Day
by last to dance
Summary: Some day Stan will have to tell the twins the truth and change their world forever. A one-shot look into what could be Stan's motviation through the first few episodes.


He knew he would have to tell them. It was his job as a responsible adult-well it was his job as the adult figure in their lives. It was his job as their guardian. It was his job as their family. He knew he had to tell them, but there was no way it was going to be easy.

Stan Pines was well known for doing a lot of things in his life, but being upstanding and doing the right thing had never been on that long list. And in all honesty he didn't want to have to start now.

He would have to tell them, and at first he figured he would tell those two the truth right when they arrived. But then he saw them, his great-niece and great-nephew. Both were so full of life and innocence. They were unaffected by the bizarreness that was Gravity Falls and their fate.

He watched Mabel actually leap out of the cab joyfully, beaming her metal smile that he would learn sparkled as much as her wardrobe. Her smile, her laugh, it all flowed so easily.

He watched Dipper, the more restrained of the two take in their surroundings. He was already maturing faster than his sister, and was already perhaps wondering if the world was really all it seemed. But still the boy didn't hesitate to crack jokes, smile, chase after life's adventures with the enthusiasm of a twelve year old.  
As Stan watched the two of them make their way toward the Mystery Shack, he decided it wasn't worth spoiling their first day in their new home. He would tell them later, some other day.

He remembered when he had first sensed something was off. It had been a few years ago, and had been nothing but a tingle down his spine. He chalked it up to old age. He convinced himself that Soos had screwed up the laundry detergent. He told himself it was nothing significant. The feeling had nothing to do with the strange and terrifying world of the supernatural around him. The world he studied, and when necessary tried to control.

It became harder to ignore as time went on, the feeling that something was wrong. Eventually he sought out his family, to find if anything was amiss with any of the relatives he had so successfully distanced himself from so long. Then a year ago he found out about the twins. And the unfortunate truth he would have to tell them.

He thought he could tell the two of them over their first full day together. Dipper actually gave him the best opening to do so, with his insistence that something wasn't right in Gravity Falls. But as he heard the words he saw the wide eyed child still clinging to the idea that the world was a mysterious but inherently good place. The naive belief that there were monsters out there, and adventures to be had that left you the same person or better. He heard that carefree laugh of the kooky little girl in the next room.

He could have told them the whole truth then and have been done with it. But he didn't. He wasn't an honest man, or a good man. He was Stan Pines, the mystic man of the Mystery Shack. So he told the boy to not be silly, and that monsters and legends were made up by shams like himself, the man he was believed to be.

And like that he had avoided the truth again.

As Mabel chased into the woods after her brother, Soos siddled to his side, and spoke in his calm voice, deceivingly distanced from reality, "They're special kids. Yep, they're gonna keep things interesting around here."

"I'm paying you to work, not play the kiddie shrink," Stan grumbled as he stalked away to his office.

"You're barely paying us at all," Wendy reminded him, not once taking her eyes from her magazine.  
He ignored her as he pretended to lose himself into his bills and paperwork. Soos was right of course. Its why he kept him around. The big man seemed like an idiot, hell he sounded like one, but the man had insight. He could sense a person's true intentions, their true nature. The fact that the man had willingly stayed to work with Stan for so long gave the older man hope. Perhaps he wasn't such a lost cause if someone with such clear sight was willing to stick around.

And yet it terrified him that even Soos could sense that those kids were special. Because who else would figure it out soon?

Its why he needed to tell them the truth.

It had been a year ago when he finally learned it hismelf. He remember hearing that his nephew and his wife weren't in touch with anyone from the old crowd. Stan hadn't thought much of it at first. They had kids now, they had probably tried to live a more normal life for the sake of the munchkins.

He had looked them up on the internet with Wendy's help and they were easy enough to find. Sure the nephew and the missus weren't socialites by any standards, but he could hardly blame them. And what he could find on the kids had made them seem normal, except for the fact that someone had thought Mabel and Dipper were names that you actually gave to kids.

But then he started having the dreams. He had never been one for prophetic dreams. They gave him the heeby jeebies. Your mind was supposed to be your sanctum, your dreams and thoughts your own. Its why he couldn't stand that twerp Gideon. Things that messed with your mind made you question the reality all around you.  
The dreams were like the tingle in his spine at first. He had told himself it was nothing. But after the third dream he couldn't ignore it any longer.

In the dream his nephew told him that he and the wife were dead. Had been for some time apparently. They were trapped to this world, ghosts inhabiting their bodies. But something was slipping through, trying to take hold of the physical forms.

It was the kids, Stan eventually figured out. They were the ones that had trapped their parents souls for so long. He had gone and studied them from a distance to see what had been going on. As far as he could tell, the twins had no idea their parents had ever even died, and their parents had kept up the charade.

Mabel had been the heart of the phenomenon. Her love could just spill out and influence the world around her. She always seemed a bit off, but it was because the world she understood wasn't the same world everyone else had to live with. Where normal people had to deal with the red tape of reality, she could just sashay right by it when she wanted to.

Dipper had cemented what was happening though. He was logic. Like Soos he could see the world for what it was. But there was so much more. The will to learn and order the chaos of what was magic. The ability to actually do so and still stay sane and logical made him into a stronger person, and would probably one day give him the ability to influence magic. He would be a Chronicler one day, Stan was sure of it.

But the kids' potentials didn't change reality. Their parents had died, but the very fact that neither could imagine life without their parents kept them from learning the gruesome truth. By some twist of fate the two had unknowingly kept their parents around for two years. But the twins weren't strong enough to maintain the spell, their control was slipping, and something else was trying to slip through.

So Stan concocted a seance and made the deal with his nephew, he would take in Dipper and Mabel and their parents would finally rest in piece, cutting off the path for any nasties to sneak through. The two had created the story the the twins would spend the summer with Stan to get them to willingly go to Gravity Falls. Once there it was up to Stan to tell them the sad truth.

The truth that he kept brushing off.

When the two of them trudged in dirty, bruised and sprouting leaves Stant didn't asked. He knew it had only been a manner of time before Gravity Falls would reveal itself to them, he only hoped it hadn't been anything too nasty. It would be the best time to tell them, finally let them know the strange world they had inherited with the Pines name. But he saw the downcast looks, the loneliness in wondering why their parents hadn't bothered to call, the uncertainty of what was really going on.

He didn't want to lose them just yet. So when he stopped them he offered gifts instead. Dipper took a hat, and it suited him. It was practical, and it looked good on the kid, even if it was a bit big. And Mabel, god bless her, managed to find a freaking grappling hook. Why did he even have something like that in stock? Then again, it may not have always been there. But just as the hat was fitting for Dipper, Stan couldn't imagine Mabel being happy with anything else in the store.

They were laughing again, and Stan didn't want to take that away. Afterall, what was one more day?

One more day never seemed to come. Finally Stan took control and decided he would take them to the most peaceful place he knew and tell them. He was going to take them out on the boat, teach them to fish and tell them the secrets of their lives.

But then the old man began making a fuss. And then there was Soos and his friggin' boat. By the time they were reunited the kids were putting such an effort on giving him one good day, he couldn't take it away from them. They even managed to get a few pictures out of it. They didn't realize it, but Stan was secretly happy that their first pictures of them as a family came out of a happy day. And he couldn't bring himself to ruin that.

And as he watched Mabel enthusiastically name the minnows and worms, and Dipper flinch away from the squirming bait, he wondered who he was to take away what was left of their childhood. As Soos had said, those kids were special. Once the supernatural realized just how special, they would never have a moments peace.  
So Stan kept brushing off his duty to tell them. He watched as they became closer to the mysteries of Gravity Falls, and came to terms with the true world around them all while keeping their innocence, regardless of what they faced.

Even after they faced down those possessed wax forms that would have killed them they were still cracking jokes and smiling. The idea that he might have lost them kept him up all that night, yet the next morning he still maintained his gruff manner.

He remember watching with wariness as Mabel got close to the annoying Gideon. He had feared the creep had figured out her secret, but the boy just seemed smitten-if a little weird. After she called it off he made sure to be a bit nicer with them, joining them in their jokes. He wanted them to know that the two of them could rely on him, feel close to them. It bothered him that they had yet to open up the full extent of what was going on with them, but he knew he couldn't force it.

After all, he wasn't exactly being completely innocent with them either.

And then there was the night that Wendy took the twins to the haunted convenience store. Perhaps he imagined it, but they had been quiet that next morning. Stan worried that perhaps they had felt something similar in the presence of the store's ghosts that would remind them of their parents. But the more he watched them, the more he was sure he was overreacting. Wendy had assured him that the night had been intense, but Mabel and Dipper had never been in any "like really real danger." Whatever that meant.

The two were getting used to Gravity Falls and not losing themselves. And the adventures were distracting them from the fact that their parents had yet to check up on them.

One day Stan would have to tell them the truth. Legally, he was their guardian now, and they deserved to know. But the summer was long, and time never seemed to pass quite so normally here.

He would tell them one day. But as he watched the two play with Soos from the window, he knew today wasn't that day.

One day he would tell them the truth and he would see them change forever.

One day they would learn that they were different from other people.

One day they he would have to tell them that they couldn't go home, and normal was an impossible dream.

But that day wasn't today.


End file.
